


Twist And Shout

by paladrae (orphan_account)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Boarding School, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Magic, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Boarding School, Gay Keith (Voltron), Keith and Shiro are Siblings, M/M, Magic School, Magic-Users, Magical Sports, klance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-18
Updated: 2017-04-16
Packaged: 2018-10-07 09:56:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10357776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/paladrae
Summary: The Paladins attend a magical boarding school (it's not Hogwarts k).





	1. Distraction

_There are many ways Keith's mother had been woken by him through his life. When Keith was 5, he crawled into the bed next to her, telling her about a nightmare he'd had about huge robots in space. His mother had smiled, and sung him back to sleep. When he was 12, she'd been woken to him loudly swearing at video games. He'd been in a bit of trouble for that one. However, what had not crossed her mind was the idea of him setting his bedroom on fire on the morning of his 18th birthday._

\----------------

"Lance!" the short girl snapped, dragging the boy from his daydream with a sharp slap to the back of his head.

"Ouch! What, Pidge?" Lance sighed, raising a hand to the back of his, now injured, head.

"Pay attention." She sighed with a roll of her eyes "you just poured in so much Hopscotch we're gonna be shitting our guts for a week."

Lance looked down to his hand and shrieked, retracting where he was pouring the powder into their work bowl "s-sorry..." he sighed "you know Herbology is not my subject."

"No shit." Pidge muttered, snatching the bottle from him. Lance sighed as Pidge got up indignantly to throw out their work so far, attracting a couple sympathetic looks from other people in the class. _Forest Mages_. Lance thought bitterly to himself as the girl started over, not bothering to ask for his help _, so stuck up_. I suppose, being a water mage himself, he should really be better at this subject. Give him the sports grounds any day over plants. Not that he was bitter at how intelligent the forest mages were or anything...  
He missed Hunk. God, he should of taken History with him but his Herbology grade last year had just been strong enough to let him take the higher subject. Pidge excelled at this subject, like most other people born in Spring and were given their Forest Magic. Lance realised now he was one of 3 other people in a class of 20 that's magic didn't specialise in plants. Another water mage and a single Earth one.

"Lance, could use some water?" Pidge interrupted his thoughts again and he looked over.

"Oh, right." he said "how much?"

"'Bout a cup." Pidge shrugged, Lance nodded, cupping his hand and slowly let it fill with water before tipping it into the bowl in front of Pidge. At least he excelled in something, no one in his year had mastered their element as well as Lance had. He formed a golf ball of water in the air in front of him, moving it around his hand with ease. Pidge was pretty good at her element as well, managing to successfully grow apples off of just about any plant when she got peckish. Hunk wasn't good with his element. It happens, some people don't have the control but Hunk was crazy good at most other subjects, healing magic in particular. Lance was still a bit jealous. Though he was able to create nearly a couple gallons of water by himself now and not get a nose bleed. 

A sharp rap at the door of their class broke his concentration and the ball of water dropped and splashed on the desk in front of him. Pidge shot him a pissed off look at it splattered on to her notes a little and he just smiled apologetically, diverting his attention - along with most of the class - to the front of the room where their Vice Principal had entered, followed by a teenage boy with his hands in his pockets. Lance frowned at the boy who looked slightly familiar and tried not to stare at the fact his mage mark covered a large portion of his face. Poor bastard.

"Oh, Mr Zanders, how might I help?" their teacher looked from where she was scrawling notes on the board to the man.

"Hello, I'm just showing our newest student to his classes on a tour, do you mind?" he gestured to the class.

"By all means." the woman smiled. The Principal turned to the classroom, where hush had already fallen over the class that two minutes before were chattering loudly. All of their interests peaked. The boy standing beside the vice principal couldn't of been much taller than Lance, his hair long and messy and probably pushing the school regulations but his uniform was neat and still looked crisp as if if was brand new.

"Hello students, apologies for interrupting your work but I'd like to introduce the new student who will be joining you class tomorrow." he smiled, then held a hand toward the boy "this is Keith Shirogane."

 _"Did he just say Shirogane?_ " a girl whispered behind Lance and Pidge and Lance frowned _"like THE Shirogane?"_

 _"Can't be."_ her friend hissed back _"I thought he was like... in his 20's now?"_

"I hope you make him welcome." the principal nodded "I'll let you return to your studies as we continue our tour, if you would, Mr Shirogane." he said and then left the room. Lance frowned and turned to Pidge.

"What's the deal with this Shirogane guy?" he asked his friend as dull chatter resumed over the class.

"I assumed with how much you don't do your homework you'd know." she teased with a smile and earned a bitter look in response "don't you remember him? When we were in 1st year he was in 3rd? I think people called him Shiro though?"

"The Winter mage?" Lance's eyebrows shot up

"The very same." Pidge nodded, mixing her work.

"That dude was awesome, I was on the Flag team at the same time as him. He was incredible."

"Lance you were a bench warmer." Pidge cocked an eyebrow and Lance scowled in response.

"Yeah well, I'm up for Captain of Shinrin this year." he shot back

"When do you hear if you got it?" Pidge asked

"Next couple days," he said "anyway, do you think they're related or something?"

"Might be." Pidge shrugged, Lance sighed at her total lack of interest. Never been into sport but she was incredible on the team, quick reactions and smart calm thinking got them out of pretty much any situation. She'd only joined last year after a lot of pestering from Lance who was trying to build his own team and needed a Forest Mage. He wasn't sure how his team was gonna pan out this year, the fire mage from the team graduated last year and he wasn't all that willing to bring 1st years on to the regulars given they were usually only built up of teams of only 5. And those 5 were mathematically calculated by himself. Lance jumped as the bell sounded over their heads, Pidge rolled her eyes at his usual lack of paying attention as they tidied up their books.


	2. New Roommate

"Congratulations, Lance!" Hunk slapped his friend on the shoulder, who winced from the sheer strength of it but laughed anyway as they trudged back to their dorms after practice.

"Thanks, man." he smiled as they walked, thinking of nothing but a hot shower and a nap before he had to go study with them in a couple hours.

"I can't believe you managed to pull Team Captain." Allura sighed as she walked on Lance's other side, long silvery hair pulled up into a bun.

"Jealous are we?" Lance wiggled his eyebrows and the girl shot him a look.

"Not so much jealous as considering switching to a different house." Allura smirked and Lance gasped in mock hurt, laying a hand dramatically over his chest.

"That cut me deep, Allura."

"I reckon Karasu is gonna wipe the floor with us at our first game in a month," Pidge said, stuffing hands into pockets "reckon we could transfer, Allura? I'm sure Thace makes a great captain."

"Oh come on guys, give him a break." Hunk said, however was still chuckling as he half heartedly stuck up for Lance amongst their teasing "we've been team mates since first year."

"Fine, fine." Allura giggled "I was only joking, but we don't even have a full team."

"Yeah." Pidge sighed, running a hand into her hair, which was sticking up at awkward angles, still slightly frozen solid after a ice hex from Allura missed the target "we need a fire mage though."

"At this point I'll take anybody." Lance sighed. He may be putting out his usual air of total cockiness but the first inter-house game was in 4 short weeks and he didn't even have a full team for his house. Shinrin never particularly attracted a lot of fire mages so finding one who was good enough but also willing to join the team was proving harder than Lance had initially thought. Each student, upon being accepted into Garrison Academy, had to take a load of test to find which house they were most suited to. Lance and his friends had the joy of being in Shinrin. A house that had not won the Inter House Cup in nearly 7 years and had become a little bit of a joke around the school. Whatever, Lance would change that this year.

"See you guys at dinner!" Pidge called as her and Allura broke off towards the girls dorms. Hunk smiled at Lance, very easily seeing through his cocky attitude.

"Don't sweat it Lance, we'll find a fire mage in no time." he grinned "Lotor's not gonna know what hit him."

Lance laughed with a nod as he pulled out his student ID card to swipe into the Shinrin boys dorms. Lotor was the Captain of Tora. The team that won most every year and Shinrin had a lot of beef with. Like Slytherin and Gryffindor if you will, as most people in Karasu and Taiko like to point out (and laugh about), only if Gryffindor was shit at Quiddich.

"See you later." Hunk smiled, walking towards his room. Being on the honour roll like Hunk was meant he got first pick of rooms this year, since they started school a few days before everyone, who just got assigned room mates. Lucky for Lance, who's room mate last year was actually Hunk - he'd been given a double room to himself.

Or so he thought. Lance's brows pulled into a deep frown when he saw the door to his room was a jar open. He always ALWAYS locked it. He pushed it open to see the boy from class earlier lounged on the free bed in his room. He didn't seem to hear Lance enter as he had a pair of large headphones covering both ears.

"Um, hello?" Lance crossed his arms. No response. He rolled his eyes and followed the wire to where it was connected to what looked like a cassette player. What was this guy, 60? He sighed and walked over, picking up the tape and pulling out the headphones. The boys eyes opened suddenly and he looked up at Lance with pissed off, dark, violet eyes. Lance would later admit to Keith that his eyes were the colour of deep storm clouds.

"What are you doing here?" Lance asked, with more bite than he had intended.

"Are you Lance?" the boy sighed, ignoring the question as he got to his feet, dusting off his trousers absently.

"Yes." Lance cocked an eyebrow

"I'm Keith." he said "your new room mate."

"Room... mate.." Lance mulled over the new information and sighed. Great. "nice to meet you, I guess..."

"Right." Keith said, pushing his headphones off one ear and reconnected the cable to be slightly more polite.

"Yanno," Lance said, cocky smile returning as he dropped his gym bag on to his bed and nodded at the cassette player "there's such thing as an iPod that does the same job, were you born in the 40s?"

Keith just raised a dark eyebrow at him "I like this, the sound's better."

"Oh god, you're not one of those music hipsters are you?" Lance smirked, zipping down the front of the body suits they wore for Flag and wincing as his aching muscles moved. Should of practised more during the summer, he had definitely lost muscle definition. It was hard to find time to practice when you had 7 siblings. Lance came from a very big family and also a very long line of, as Lance liked to joke, pedigree mages. Pretty much meaning it was hard to track back someone in his family who didn't have magical abilities. Unlike Pidge who came from a long line of humans and had scared her family half to death by growing a tree through the window of her bedroom when she turned 15.

"One of what?" Keith sighed in a bored tone, probably wanting nothing more than for Lance to stop talking and leave him alone.

"One of those guys who wears flannels and swears they were born in the wrong generation. Do you have a marble record player from Urban Outfitters?" Lance grinned, tying the sleeves lazily around his waist and stretching an arm over his chest, shoulder muscles screaming for him to stop as he flopped down on his bed. Keith didn't reply and Lance barked a laugh "you do don't you?"

"It's not marble." he sighed indignantly, pulling his headphones off completely as Lance was talking over Led Zeppelin too much for them to be fully enjoyed "are you always this talkative?"

"Oh, come on, Keith," he said, smirking at the fact he was getting a small rise out of such a stoic personality. Honestly, people like that just irritated him. The broody type that girls flocked to cause they wanted to "fix" them when there was nothing to fix "if we're gonna be room mates we're gonna have to start bonding."

Keith just rolled his eyes and leaned back on his bed, pulling the headphones over both his ears.

"Or not." Lance sighed in return. Well, this year was gonna suck. He got to his feet, stretching arms above his head and letting his back audibly pop, setting Keith's teeth on edge as he hadn't wound the tape back enough yet to drown out his new obnoxious roommate, and he walked into their small shared bathroom to take a shower. 

                                                                                                                               ~

"You got a new room mate?" Allura cocked an eyebrow as they sat around in the Shinrin common room. Lance had always loved this room, soft blues and silvers were their house colours and the room was totally draped in them. However, they still had that mix of old and new, sure they had to keep up the annoying portraits of the old headmasters but they still managed to get a Play Station in the corner, which Lance and Pidge constantly hogged. But they were 3rd years now so that generally meant first dibs. According to them anyway.

"Yeah." Lance sighed, chewing the top of his pen as the homework in front of him on elemental control started to swim. Too much work "Keith something-a-rather."

"That guy from Herbology this morning?" Pidge asked, hair now thawed sitting as it should, looking up from her book. A blanket around her shoulders, her homework finished nearly half an hour ago. She had a mug of hot, purple tea in her hands.

"The very same, he's really not friendly." Lance pouted as he cleaned up his books. He'd do the rest tomorrow, eyes flickering to the clock. Dinner started about 15 minutes ago and he was starving, lunch seemed miles away now.

"I'm sure you're just making a snap judgement." Hunk sighed as they shoved their books into bags "he's probably not that bad."

"I guess." Lance shrugged and shoved his hands into his pockets as they made their way down a few flights of stairs towards the cafeteria "I mean all I do in my room is sleep since I'm so busy so I don't really even have to talk to him."

"How nice of you." Allura rolled her eyes as they joined the back of the line for some food.

"I'm always this kind, sweetheart." he grinned flirtily, earning a swift elbow into his gut. The conversation moved off of Keith and on to complaining about the extortionate amount of homework their Seasons teacher had given them so soon into the term as they piled trays high with food and all clattered on to their regular table in the back corner of the room. Seasons work was always so ridiculously boring, Lance wasn't sure why he took it. Actually, he knew exactly why - it was easy and it meant an A on his report card and into the doors of professional Flag.

"Lance!" Pidge snapped and he looked up from where he was pushing his food around on his plate

"Hmm?"

"Isn't that your room mate?" she asked, nodding towards the door where Keith was in the line for food.

"Yeah." he muttered, shoving a spoonful of peas into his mouth as Keith scanned the cafeteria for somewhere to sit. Probably by himself.

"We should ask him to sit with us." Allura said kindly "it sucks to be new."

"He's such a jerk th-"

"Keith!" Pidge cut of Lance by calling for the boy, who jumped and looked over to them "why don't you sit with us?"

The boy frowned at the kind outstretch "s-sure."

"Pidge!" Lance whined in a whiny tone

"Can it, Lance." she hissed back as Keith reached their table, Pidge shoved Lance up to give Keith enough room to sit beside her. He slid into the bench, brushing dark hair out of his eyes "figured Lance's roommate needed to know his friends aren't as irritating as he is."

"How rude, Pidge, I'm a delight." Lance smirked and she just rolled her eyes in response.

"My name's Pidge."

"Pidge?" he raised and eyebrow

"Well, it's actually Katie but I go by Pidge," she chuckled "blame my brother, it was a childhood nickname that will stick with me to my grave."

"Oh." he nodded and then took Lance off guard by actually smiling a little "I'm Keith."

"Allura." the other girl chipped in, stretching her hand out to Keith with a warm smile, Keith turned and looked at her, apparently caught off guard by someone else who's Mage mark was also on their face. He took her hand and shook it with a nod "this is Hunk." she added, nodding to the boy next to her.

When Mages are given their powers, usually on their 15th birthdays, markings appear somewhere on their skin. Lance had blue swirls up his right arm. Pidge had vines over her shoulder blades and Hunk's calves were covered too. It was extremely rare for people to have Mage Marks appear on their faces, it was mostly something that happened to Winter mages - like Allura - who had two disks below each of her eyes. But Keith's were a deep, blood red and went up the left hand side of his neck and on to the middle of his cheek in pretty swirls. Leading Lance to believe he was probably a Summer Mage - meaning he had fire magic.

"So, what school did you go to before this?" Hunk asked politely

"Uh, well, just normal high school." he said, scratching his neck.

"You were a Mage who went to normal high school?" Pidge asked, totally bemused.

"Well, I only found out I was a Mage this year." he shrugged, taking a bite out the bread he'd picked up.

"Late bloomer." Lance smirked and Keith shot him an annoyed look.

"Doesn't mean he can't give you a run for your money." Allura grinned in a teasing way.

"Oh, Allura dear, no one's as good as I am." Lance chuckled, making the water from her cup float into the air and he moulded it into a heart.

"Give me my drink back." she sighed impatiently.

"Fine." he smiled, making it fall back into the cup without spilling anything. She smirked and reached over, tapping the edge of his cup and making the entire thing freeze solid.

"Oh, that's just not fair." he pouted, turning it upside down and it didn't budge.

"Lance likes to show off the only thing he's good at." Pidge said in a bored tone "which is elemental magic - what kinda Mage are you, Keith?"

"Fire," Keith replied "though I haven't done all that much magic yet."

"That'll change," Hunk beamed "you'll like it here." Keith smiled slightly at him with a nod.

"Hey Lance!" came a voice and the boy instantly stiffened. His friends exchanged glances at this.

"Don't let him get to you." Pidge said quickly, her voice suddenly not having an ounce of teasing in it compared to before - which confused Keith as a tall boy with long, ghostly white hair stopped next to Lance. Who just about managed to pull a cocky smirk on to his face before turning to him.

"What can I do for you, Lotor?" Lance smiled sweetly but his voice was frosty.

"Heard you made Captain of Shinrin?" the boy out his hands in his pockets "you got a full team yet?"

"Not yet, but I will do." Lance said shortly

Lotor hummed almost mockingly "well, we'll still crush you at the first game Tora play against you."

"We'll see about that." Allura chipped in, smiling almost sadistically at Lotor. Lance had learned his boundaries with Allura very quickly after meeting her. The girl was scary as fuck if you got on the wrong side of her. The ice queen.

Lotor barked a laugh "we will, see you around." he looked at Lance's friends who were all giving him reproachful looks, eyes stopping on Keith slightly longer than the others before stalking off towards his own friends.

"What a cu-"

"Pidge." Allura snapped over the end of her sentence.

"Jerk." Pidge smiled sweetly

"What was that about?" Keith asked with a frown

" _Prince_ Lotor, god he acts like royalty." Allura shook her head "don't pay attention to him, Lance."

"I won't." the boy smiled shakily "all he wants is to egg me on."

"Lotor is the Flag Captain for Tora, our houses have a little bit of bad blood." Hunk turned to Keith.

"Flag?" he frowned

"It's the sport for Mages - it's like the football team around here." Pidge said, just deepening Keith's frown "you were raised by humans right?"

"Yeah...?"

"It's like a really intense version of capture the flag," she chuckled "but it's a big deal with mages. The four of us make up the regular Shinrin team."

"Except we need 5 to compete in the inter house games." Hunk sighed "which Lotor has apparently already heard about..."

"How do you play?" Keith asked

Allura hummed "It's like a kind of puzzle game that needs elemental magic, you play against one other team of 5 and it's like a race. You're put into rooms where you have to figure out a puzzle using your magic and the first team who makes it out of all 5 puzzles and gets the flag first essentially wins."

"We don't have a fire mage though." Pidge shrugged

"What kind of mages are you all?" Keith asked quietly "I still don't really understand how it works..."

"Well, depending on when you were born it decides what type of magic you're given." Pidge said through a mouthful of spaghetti "Earth and Forest Mages are the most common, people born in Spring are usually given those types of powers. I'm a forest mage and Hunk is Earth." she paused "see." with that she reached over to the flower sat in the middle of the table, moving her hand upwards and making it grow into a bouquet. Keith's eyes went wide at how casually these people could do magic. He could barely light a match without popping a blood vessel.

"I'm a water mage." Lance sighed shortly "I was born in Fall."

"The most rare are winter mages." Pidge said, adjusting her glasses with that smirk on her face that she got when she was being smart "the lovely Allura over there is a Winter mage."

"So you have..."

"Ice powers." Allura smiled, she lifted both hands and gracefully moved them in a circle in the air, creating a perfect swan out of frozen crystals before moving it and dropping it into Keith's drink.

"Woah." he breathed

"Allura and Lotor are the only Winter Mages in the whole of 3rd year." Pidge grinned "gives us the edge."

"So, you're born in the summer then?" Hunk asked "if you're a fire mage?"

"Yeah.. the end of July.." 

"Go on then, hot head," Lance smirked, leaning on his elbow "show us what you got."

Keith sighed, rubbing his hands together in a fast motion as before cupping them and snapping his fingers. Lance frowned at the action but the snap formed a tiny ball of flames in the palm of his cupped hands and he turned it toward the ceiling.

"Is that it?" Lance smirked, almost triumphantly after how much attention Keith had just been getting. Keith, however, just ignored him and tilted his head upwards, bringing his hands towards his lips with he flame still turned to the ceiling and sucked in a breath of air before blowing out sharply. The fire in his hand exploded out like one of the fire breathers Lance had seen in the circus as a kid. He could feel the heat on his face.

"Dude, that's awesome!" Hunk laughed

"I've never seen anyone light fire like that." Pidge said with a smile

"I don't know, I can't just like will it out of nothing like most people." Keith shrugged "but when I do that it's like.. lighting a splint."

"Seems kinda unnecessarily long." Lance commented, forming a ball of water in his hand and let if float around his hand. Allura rolled her eyes, lifting a hand lazily and freezing it solid, letting it smash on the table - making Pidge and Hunk burst into laughter. Lance groaned, bickering with Allura about that. Keith was just sat on the end of the table confused, but a small smile formed on his lips. 

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad here.


	3. Magma

"You know why I love Friday afternoons?" Lance grinned as he pulled on his body suit for gym class. Hunk sighed and turned round to him with a weathered look.

"Because now you get to boss around 1st years, don't have to learn Flag basics you already know and just get to play through simulators?"

"Have I mentioned it before?"

"Once or twice." Hunk shook his head, his smile was tired but also fond as he yanked on his body suit. Lance thrived on gym periods, he'd get into the simulator anytime he could, there were new puzzles every day on the fancy simulators and did he mention he could boss around 1st years? Hunk and Lance immediately spotted Pidge and Allura when they walked in - also in their body suits. Lance had made so many Power Rangers jokes about these suits. Although they were black they wall had bands of colour around the cuffs and down the torso with the school logo on the chest. Keith was standing with them, slightly awkwardly in the schools normal gym clothes. Lance liked people knowing he was on the team by these suits.

"What's with the Spandex?" Keith asked, itching at were his hair was falling in his eyes. 

"Flag Team uniforms." Pidge answered "they look kinda dumb but they're designed to withstand the puzzles."

"Dumb?" Lance smirked "have you seen how good my ass looks in these?"

"Don't make me hurl." Pidge groaned "I just drank the Spice Goblin please don't make me see it again in reverse, I doubt it tastes better on the way back up."

"Oh come on, Pidge." Lance grinned, nudging her with his hip and she pretended to retch.

"Spice Goblin?" Keith asked

"You've not drank yours yet?" Allura asked "the little bottle Coach gave you on the way in; you're supposed to drink it before heading into the simulators."

Keith frowned, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the little vial of black liquid he'd had pushed into his hand on entering "why?"

"It's a healing thing, never really does but mistakes can happen in the simulators and it just helps." Hunk shrugged

"Oh." Keith frowned, pulling out the stopper.

Lance smirked "You should be warned: tastes like shit."

Keith just cocked an eyebrow before throwing it back, he immediately coughed and gagged, leaning over and spluttering. Allura half heartedly patted his back while Lance just laughed "what the fuck, it tastes like-"

"Shit?" Lance smirked "I _did_ warn you."

Keith shot him the mother of all pissed off looks but the possible argument was stopped by their Gym teacher calling out for them all to gather round. The 5 of them walked over and crowded around with all of the other members of Shinrin. Lance had always be fond of their Gym teacher, he was his favourite in the school. Genuine passion for the sport and also just a little bit crazy with moustache for days.

"Alright, Shinrinians." he grinned "nice to see so many new faces! Welcome to Shinrin, my name's Coach Coran - we're gonna start the day with watching our current 3rd year team take a bash at the puzzle I've got lines up for them." he grinned "you may have spotted them, they're hard to miss. The one in the blue is Lance, your Captain of Shinrin. If you wanna try out for the team he's who you go to."

"Yo." Lance saluted, making all of his team mates - and most of the room - cringe.

"You got someone to make 5, Lance - or do you need to pick?" Coran asked, pulling on his stache.

"What about it, Hot Head?" Lance smirked toward Keith "up for the challenge?"

Keith smiled slightly, even if it was cocky - it made Lance's eyes widen. It wasn't a bad smile... "Always up for a challenge."

"Okay then, I want Keith on my team today." Lance turned back to Coran "he's never played Flag before, that okay?"

Coran beamed "always up for seeing you tackle some obstacles Lance, plus no better way to learn than throwing him in to the deep end." Keith raised an eyebrow "well, simulator 2 is up and ready to go, since it's the first day I've only set you up with the one puzzle."

"Oh come on Coran, you know we can do better than that!" Lance grinned

"It's Coach." he said weatherly for about the millionth time since Lance joined in first year "oh, you kids are in for a treat. I'm very proud of my third years. Let's see if Keith can keep up with them, shall we?"

"Let's go team!" Lance whooped and his friends sighed as they followed him to the simulation entrance. The gym was really just a large room, well lit with warm, open windows: the simulators really weren't anything more than two, very small, closed off rooms at the back wall. Two doors lead to each off them with 1 and 2 written on either of them. They lined up by the door.

"Ready team?" Lance grinned "you know, I think we need a team cheer."

"We really don't, Lance." Allura chuckled, twisting long hair into a pony tail.

"I'll still think of one." he smirked in response

"Alright, all set?" Coran beamed from the controls. There were a wall of screens which allowed all the students to watch and judge them as they took on the room.

"You know it!" Lance beamed, bending knees slightly by the doors. It was wide enough for all 5 of them to stand shoulder to shoulder comfortably and still be able to walk through.

"Good luck, you'll be timed - but I have faith you'll manage it as fast as always!" Coran said, flicking the switch to open the doors. They slid open and Lance barely paused before rushing in - god he's missed this. The room opened up into what appeared like a library. The smell of musk and dust filled Lance's senses and he coughed involuntarily.

"This is a sport?" Keith was the first to speak as the doors slammed closed behind them.

"Alright, Lance - what first?" Hunk said. Lance's mind was already ticking as he scanned the walls, they were filled with books of varying degrees of decay, the floor was rock, like they were in a cave and in the middle of the room was a table with a box on it that Pidge was already opening.

"Pidge, wait!" Lance said but it was too late - the moment the box opened Lance felt a lurch in his stomach as the floor under his right foot literally fell away "oh, shit!" he scrambled onto a floor tile to his left that was left. It was no more than a half square metre in size.

"Pidge!" Hunk called and quickly shot a hand upwards and rock shot upwards and caught the small girl before she fell into the very dark pit of nothingness that was below them.

"So, what do you suppose is in the deep dark pit of death?" Lance grinned, looking over the edge of his floating tile to where he couldn't see the floor below him.

"The kick you get out of danger is mildly scary." Pidge sighed, dusting off her knees and adjusting glasses. Lance scanned the room, all the tiles had fallen into the dark abyss except the ones each of them were standing on. Lance looked at his feet, there was an odd symbol on it.

"Okay, who did their runes homework?" he asked "looks like there's spells we gotta cast on each of them."

"Describe to me the symbol." Pidge said from across the room

"It's like a Y that looks like a trident." Lance cocked his head

"That's a forest symbol - that's the tile I should be standing on." Pidge said "I'm standing on the rune symbol for fire, I think if we're standing on the Symbol for our magic type then use our Mage power we can crack the puzzle."

"You're a genius, my dear Pidgeon." Lance sighed happily "how are we even gonna jump to the right ones?"

"I got that." Allura grinned, throwing her hands forward and shooting out ice crystals. They formed slowly into a walk way to Pidge's tile. Pidge herself outstretched a hand and vines cracked out of the walls, knotting together to form a bridge to Hunk's.

"How the hell are me and Hot Head supposed to make bridges?" Lance sighed

"Figure it out." Allura laughed "Captain." she added with a smirk. Lance sighed and stared at the gap between him and Allura's tile with some apprehension. Think, Lance. Think. Then an idea struck him and he laughed.

"And he's got it." Allura smiled as Lance concentrated, swirling his hands to make two, football sized balls of water before leaping off the tile. Making Allura wince before he landed with his feet in the water. Floating precariously above a huge drop into blackness. He formed another two balls and jumped forward to land on them again.

"God, you're gonna give me an anyerism." Pidge said, as she ran across another bridge of vines and came to a stop on the tile with the forest rune. One more leap and Lance came to a stop on the rune and looked down.

"This one's got a fish, am I on the right one?"

"Would it kill you to do your rune's homework?" Allura teased

"Yes." Lance grinned over at her and she rolled her eyes, Keith looked around for a way to get him across from where he was standing to where Lance was. Once he was there he could jump to the fire tile. His eyes flickered from the large rock to his left then to Lance and an idea hit him.

"Hey, Lance!" he called and the boy looked over with a raised eyebrow "gonna need some water in a sec."

"What?" Lance frowned as Keith rubbed his hands together to create friction, what he did reminded him off getting a camp fire lit with his brother as kids. He froze as his brother entered his head before shaking the thought out roughly and continued what he was doing. As he lit the fire in his palm he kicked the rock, it flew out into the air and before it fell Keith puffed out the breath to light his fire. The plume of flames caught the rock in mid air but he just kept exhaling. _Come on!_ He thought. He grinned as he saw the rock turning into Magma and he willed it into a bridge shape, joining it to his tile and most of the way to Lance's.

"Lance, now!" he barked and Lance didn't seem to question it as he shot hands forward, fire hose strength of water shot out of the palms of his hands and hit the super heated magma, cooling it into solid rock. When Lance pulled his hands away through the steam the members off the team could see the bridge Keith had just formed.

"That was incredible!" Pidge grinned "where did you learn that?"

"3rd grade Physics." Keith smirked, jumping from the ledge and on to the same tile as Lance. His foot slipped as the edge of the tile broke. Lance's innate reflexes kicking in and he reached out, grabbing Keith around the waist and gripping fingers into the back of his shirt, pulling him swiftly forward and on to the tile. Their eyes met as chests bumped together he felt a blush spread on to his face. _Woah his eyes were pretty..._ But being the asshole he was, he panicked at this thought and shot out the first teasing line that came to his head.

"Don't go falling for me already." he smirked and Keith practically growled and pushed Lance off him before just leaping to the next tile with the fire rune as it was close enough "I, uh," Lance awkwardly cleared his throat "are we all on the right tiles?"

"Yeah." Hunk nodded

"Okay, what now." Lance sighed "Pidge, are these specific hex runes?"

"They're just the symbols for our mage types." Pidge sighed in response "I'm stumped."

"Maybe it's more simple that we think." Keith spoke, looking at the tile before rubbing hands together, as he snapped his fingers he fire formed into the shape off the rune on his tile. There was a moment of stillness before suddenly tiles formed from his back into the centre of the room. Keith grinned at the satisfaction of being the one to figure it out.

"Nice, Keith." Allura grinned as the black haired boy reached the middle. She moved hands around and ice crystals formed into the shape on her tile. The same thing happening "we all have to get back to the middle."

The rest of the team soon caught on, Lance easily making his rune and getting to the middle, Pidge made a twig version and Hunk's out of rock. The moment Hunk's feet touched the middle the lights suddenly came on in the room and it dissolved away into the plain, white square room the simulators actually were. Coran's voice suddenly booming into the room on loud speakers.

"Well done! That simulation took you just over a half hour, that's one of the shortest times you've had!"

"Awesome!" Lance grinned, he looked over at where Keith was smiling slightly "you know, Hot Head, you're not half bad at this game."

"Thanks, I guess?" Keith raised an eyebrow

"Wanna be the 5th member of out team?" Lance asked, Keith's eyes flickered to where his team mates were all grinning at him. Huh, had he managed to make friends already?

He smiled just a little "sure."


	4. Firecracker

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rae actually updated, whaaaat?

Lance trudged into his room after a a detention. It wasn't his fault exactly, or so he would want to believe. He didn't exactly know adding 5 teaspoons of Dragon Flower Powder "for a laugh" instead of one would set their desk on fire. He was on Pidge's kill list. Keith had almost cried with laughter. He'd make it up to her somehow - he'd already been on her shit list more than a handful of times - at least _this time_ he'd put the fire out fast. But as he walked into his dorm he was met with a sight that made his lips twitch up slightly. Keith was fast asleep, head down in his homework on his desk. Lance chuckled as he snorted his his sleep, slamming the door noisily behind him.

"What!" Keith jumped awake, his fringe sitting up at an awkward angle as he whipped round, holding up his pencil as a weapon.

"It's just me," Lance laughed "put down the pencil... I come in peace."

Keith sighed and dropped it on on the desk, leaning back in his chair and scraping fingers through his hair, making it sit even wilder. Lance cocked his head as he flopped down at his desk. Their room was set out so it was a solid 50% divide - each of them having single beds and desks of their own - Lance on the right of the room: Keith on the left. The difference in their sides of the room was noticeable. Lance had pictures pasted on to his wall - probably over 100 he'd printed from his dumb wind up camera. Ones of him, his siblings, his friends - all at varying stages off his life. Lance's bed was rarely made - even if was it just had his blue duvet haphazardly thrown over it. He had bottles of skin cream on the shelf above his bed, Flag trophies from when he was a kid and books all crammed into the small space. 

Keith could not of been more polar opposite: Lance initially assumed it might take him a while to set up his stuff but he had nothing. He just put his school books on his shelf. His bed was _always_ neatly made. Lance had noticed though that Keith had a single picture frame on his desk. He'd only ever gotten a good look at it once while Keith was out the room (he was shamelessly a nosy bastard) but it made him smile. The picture was of Keith, obviously very young and he was beaming at the camera, one of his front teeth missing and he held a football on his lap. Keith was sitting on the knee of an older boy, who seemed to be in his teens while Keith looked about 7. Lance immediately noticed the family resemblance between the two. Both had pitch black raven hair and the exact same nose. Lance assumed it must be his older brother. He spent a while trying to figure out if it was Shiro from Flag but had decided it couldn't be. Shiro had white hair where Keith's brother's was black and much longer.

Lance's eyes flickered from the picture back to Keith's face - noticing the huge, dark circles under his eyes and it brought a sigh from between his lips.

"Dude, you look like shit - did you go to bed last night?" he cocked an eyebrow

"I don't remember..." Keith muttered, reaching for the mug off coffee on his desk.

"Did you even go for dinner?" he pressed with a frown

"I don't know, what time is it?" Keith asked

"Dude, you need a break." Lance sighed, standing up and walking over to his desk, Keith had it totally covered in books and papers.

"I'm fine, it's none of your business..." he muttered. Lance's eyebrow twitched in irritation. He wasn't usually this kind to Keith, so he should appreciate it. Keith was starting to tick him off on occasion when he would just snap at Lance while he was doing nothing wrong. Keith moved to go back to writing and Lance just snatched the pen from his hand.

"Hey, give it back, jackass!" he snapped, reaching to grab it back. Lance shoved him back down in the chair rather roughly with his free hand.

"Keith." he said sternly "I know your stressed about catching up in class but wearing yourself out isn't going to help anyone." he sighed, giving the black haired boy a firm stare. Keith looked at him for a minute before his expression softened and he sighed, flopping back against the chair.

"You're right," he sighed "irritatingly enough."

"Such a charmer," Lance sighed, dropping his pen on his desk and looking at Keith. An idea struck him. Keith needed a break, something to unclench him a little... "get your coat." Lance stated, reaching for his hoodie.

"Why?"

"Because we're sneaking out - get your coat." Lance rolled his eyes, pulling his tie off and throwing it on to his bed, shrugging his favourite blue hoodie over his shoulders.

"Sneaking out?" Keith cocked an eyebrow as he stood up.

"There's a market just through the woods," Lance sighed "the summer festival should still be on."

Keith looked at him with eyes narrowed and Lance sighed "we're stuck with each other Keith, can you like, not be an ass for an hour or so? We're roommates and we have to see each other a lot in the next year. Would it kill you to make a friend?"

There was a pause before Keith sighed, breaking eye contact "sorry.." he muttered and Lance's eyes widened. Alright. Not the reaction he was expecting "I'm not good at..."

"Being nice?" Lance grinned, trying to break the tension. His eyes widened as a small  smile tugged on Keith's lips.

_Shit. He was cute._

"Yeah." Keith shook his head "something like that." he stood up and grabbed his jacket off the back on the chair. Lance had never asked about the jacket. It was clearly two sizes too big for Keith and it was worn out black leather with patches of bands Lance had never even heard of. He grinned at Keith as he asked "so, how do we sneak out?"

"You'll see." he chuckled, heading for the door of their room. He opened it out to see the hall was empty and motioned Keith to follow him.

"How many times have you done this?" Keith raised an eyebrow.

"I've been at this school for 2 years now, my dear, you learn a couple tricks" Lance grinned as they got to the door of their dorms "when they only let us out of campus once a month you gotta learn how."

Keith chuckled under his breath and Lance practically shivered at the exhale of breath that trickled over the nape of his neck from where Keith walked beside him. He glanced sideways as he pushed the door open, campus was pretty much empty at this point. Everyone was either still at dinner, and most of Karasu were at Flag practice. Lance grinned as he slid round the back of the Shinrin boys dorms. Keith raised an eyebrow at the small gap between the building and the huge hedge that blocked the edge of campus.

"Come on, Hot Shot." Lance grinned challengingly from where he stood in the dark. He earned an eyebrow cock from the boy, watching as he slithered down the small opening "scared?" Keith's eyebrow twitched in annoyance before he sighed and slid after him "good choice." 

He followed Lance through the dark. The sun was just going down over the campus and it was starting to get dark - he could barely see Lance and then he disappeared from sight all together "Lance?" he frowned

"Down here." came his voice and Keith looked down to where there was a grate kicked open. He could barely make out Lance standing in what looked like a sewer.

"Is that the sewer?" Keith's nose turned slightly

"No, mullet head, it's the staff entrance." Lance grinned "are you coming down or what?"

"How?" he frowned "I can barely see..."

"Don't worry, I'll catch you." Lance smirked and Keith let off an annoyed growl at that. Lance smiled softly slightly at the genuinely slightly scared look on Keith's face "it's only a few feet, just jump - it's alright." he said softly. Keith sighed and closed his eyes, stepping off the plat form and expecting to hit the hard ground but was pleasantly surprised when he stopped mid air. He opened one eye to see Lance had caught both of his feet in a water bubble, keeping a pocket of air so his skin didn't get wet - and carefully lowered him to the ground.

"Thanks." Keith murmured when two feet were happily planted on the ground. As he looked around he realised there was carpet under his feet. They were in a hallway that looked an awful lot like the ones in school, the lights were off and he could only just make out a pair of blue eyes across from him. He groaned and rubbed his hands together, snapping fingers to form a fist sized ball of flames about his hand. It threw a orange flickering light on to Lance's grinning face.

"Where are we?" Keith asked

"Did you expect the teachers slept in school?" Lance grinned at his confused face, leading him down the hall way "this opens out into the staff car park that's just off campus, the other way is the staff room."

"Do I want to know how you found this place?" Keith asked, a small smile on his face as he walked after Lance, who had hands cockily pushed into his pockets.

"Hunk dared me I couldn't find a way off campus. He learned his lesson. Don't tell me I can't do something, cause it just riles me up and makes me want to do it more." Lance chuckled softly, scratching the back of his neck. Quite glad Keith as accompanying him as he usually had to walk down here in the dark "Pidge and I sneak out a lot to get more games for the PlayStation but last year we stumbled on the Summer Festival."

"What is this festival?" Keith asked as they reached a door, the moment of anxiety lessened when Lance just confidently pushed open the door. His eyes widened as they emerged in an empty car park, a small path leading into the woods just across it - there were lamps with small fires in them floating by the trees. He closed his palm, letting the flame go out.

"You'll see." Lance grinned at him, heading for the path. While they had been underground the sun had totally set and it was dark around the two of them. Lance couldn't help but smile at Keith's curious expression as soft candle light shone pretty, orange glow on to his face. Lance could hear the music of the festival getting louder, they must be close. He was right, after a few more yards the forest opened out into a clearing. He smiled as he heard Keith's breath catch in his throat. He totally understood, the Summer Festival was incredible.  
Stalls from each end of the clearing to the other, packed full of mages all selling a huge amount of varying things. Lance grinned as he saw the had crammed in the old Ferris Wheel as always.

"You like it?" he asked Keith with a smile, hands pushed into his pockets.

"This is amazing." Keith let off an almost disbelieving laugh.

"They set it up from like July through to the end of September, I was a little worried it would be gone." Lance smiled "Pidge and I found it last year."

"Are all these people..."

"Mages?" Lance asked "yeah: there's a village close to the school that's just mages. Given we try keep ourselves hidden from humans in general - families with all mages usually live in villages like that."

"Oh." Keith frowned

"You were raised by humans, right?" Lance asked

"Yeah, though I think my dad was a Mage." Keith said

"You think?"

"Never met him." Keith deadpanned and Lance mentally kicked himself.

"Okay, retracting foot from mouth." he sighed, Keith let off a snort of a laugh.

"Don't worry about it."

There was a short awkward silence as they stood at the edge of the festival. Nice going, Lance. "you hungry?" he asked in desperation to fill the silence "I forgot you didn't eat dinner."

"A little." Keith shrugged

"Man, you gotta try the Firecracker Buns." Lance beamed, nodding for Keith to follow him as "they're incredible."

"I didn't bring money or anything..." Keith jogged to keep up with him.

"It's alright, I got it." Lance laughed. Keith didn't argue as all his senses were overloaded at once. The colour of the place was incredible, everything orange and red as far as the eye could see. Everything smelled like spices and burning wood. He let off a laugh as a young man ran past, shooting what looked like fireworks out the palms of his hands.

"Summer mages." Lance laughed "they're insane." he paused "no offence."

"None taken." Keith chuckled, watching the guy form a butterfly out of flames for a little girl. He'd never get used to magic "how do you get used to this?"

"To magic?" Lance smiled "well... there's never been a point in my life I haven't had it. My whole family are Mages."

"you have siblings?" Keith asked as he looked at a stall of what looked like hand blown glass vases and jewellery.

"Yeah, 3 sisters and 4 brothers." he shrugged.

Keith let out a low whistle "That's a lot."

"Tell me about it." Lance laughed "the amount of fights I've gotten into for wanting to use our one shower at the same time as someone... but we're close" he smiled as Keith picked up a purple, dragonfly hair slide off the stall and looked at it with big eyes "you have any siblings?"

"Just the one," He said "older brother."

"You guys close?" Lance asked casually

"We were growing up..." Keith replied, Lance watched as his face slipped a little and he kicked himself again "not so much anymore, he's kinda busy now a days..."

"Is he a Mage like you?" Lance asked. He didn't want to make Keith sad but he was kinda enjoying hearing about him. He so rarely opened up that Lance really just wanted to enjoy this time he had him talking.

"I... I don't know." Keith muttered. Lance felt like he had over stepped his bounds a little and was glad as the lady who ran the stall appeared and beamed at the two boys.

"Pretty, isn't it?" she asked Keith. Who jumped and looked at her, as if he didn't quite realise he was still holding the dragonfly slide. The woman looked kind, eyes crinkling in the corners as she smiled, like she did it a lot. There was a strong smell of perfumed incense coming from her. Her skin was smooth and tanned but she looked at the two boys with piercing blue eyes.

"Oh.. yeah it is."

"Why don't you take it, honey?" she smiled, reaching out and taking it from Keith's hand before brushing his bangs from his eyes softly and sliding the clip into his hair to keep them off his face "it matches your eyes."

"I don't have any money." Keith's cheeks were red and Lance's eyes bulged as he looked at his face. For once getting a good look at his eyes. Shit, he was _really_ cute. He didn't quite realise just how long Keith's eyelashes were. Thick, dark eyebrows making the light violet of his eyes really stand out.

"Just take it, sweetie." she laughed "we're closing down the festival in a few days, I need to get rid of the stock."

"Al-alright..." Keith said "thank you."

"No problem, have a nice night!" she beamed at the two of them as they started to walk away from the stall again.

"She's right." Lance squawked after a few seconds silence, then cringed and he cleared his throat.

"Huh?" Keith looked up at him.

Lance smiled slightly "it does match your eyes." Keith's cheeks reddened and he looked at his shoes, muttering out a thank you and Lance's grin grew slightly "come on, I think that's the food stall."

Keith quickened his pace to keep track of Lance through the crowd, he noticed the people behind the stalls seemed to all have red mage marks like him "so, is this thing run by summer mages?"

"Yeah." Lance smiled as Keith stepped beside him "Summer mages tend to be the most creative with their magic, they make some pretty cool food and fireworks; I must admit."

"So, what are water mages good at?" Keith asked curiously

"Sports usually, swimming..." he shrugged "we're like the most boring of the mage types."

"I think you're pretty cool." Keith said

Lane felt his face flush, his immediate response again to be a snark remark "have I finally cracked the fiery exterior?"

"Oh, shut up." Keith sighed, though it was almost in a fond tone Lance thought as they reached the stall most known for incredible food. Keith was immediately hit with the smell of aromatic spices and his mouth almost automatically salivated as he got a good look at what they were cooking. He didn't recognise any of them but everything was brightly coloured.

"What can I get you boys?" boomed the loud voice of the man behind the counter, he grinned at the two teens and Keith found his lips twitching upwards.

"Two of your finest Firecracker Buns please." Lance announced and the man cackled with laughter.

"You got it, kid." he turned back to where there was an open fire for cooking and got to work.

"So, what am I about to eat?" Keith asked, looking at what he was doing with some apprehension.

"Heaven in a bread bun." Lance shrugged "Pidge hates these things but she has the spice palette of a wet noodle."

Keith let off a chuckle "I love spicy food. My mom makes the most amazing Katsu Curry." Lance noticed his smile was almost sad as he stood beside him.

"What's that?" Lance asked

"It's breaded, deep fried chicken in curry." Keith shrugged

"Is it like home?" Lance asked gently, Keith looked over at him "that's like my mom's Tamales."

"What are they?"

"They're just like, meat in a dough but... they're home." Lance sighed with a shrug "boarding school sucks in that way. I get kinda homesick."

Keith hummed, Lance looked over at him and found himself blushing. He was so much deeper of a person than he had initially thought "Yeah, I understand."

The moment was interrupted by the man turning back and handing them both buns in wrappers, Lance handed him a few strange gold coins that Keith frowned at. They found their way to a bench by the tree line and at the edge of the festival and Lance took a huge bite out of his bun, moaning happily in a way that made Keith's face go a little red.

"What is it?" Keith asked, looking at the yellow bun in his hand.

"Oh, just trust me and eat it." Lance laughed. Keith sighed, bringing it to his mouth and taking the smallest bite out of it. His eyes widened as spices exploded on to his tongue and he let off a noise of surprise. Lance chuckled at the reaction "they're called firecrackers for a reason."

"It's incredible!" Keith laughed, taking another huge bite. Lance smiled at him, a content look on his face, bangs brushed out of his eyes. He looked happy for the first time since coming to Garrison.

"Hey, Lance?" he said quietly

"Yeah?" he replied through a mouthful of food.

"Thanks." Keith muttered

"What for?" Lance laughed

"Everything." he shrugged "this was fun."

Lance smiled as he watched him take another bite of the bun, orange light of the festival lighting up his face and he sighed happily "any time."


	5. Picture Frames

As summer slipped into fall Flag practices got really intense for the Lance and his friends, the first game against Karasu was a mere week away at this point. Not that Lance would tell anyone that he was totally shittitng himself for it. Though, Keith had really clicked happily on to their team and they were smashing all of their time records from last year. Keith never particularly failed to surprise Lance when he showed up in their dorm, usually cause he stayed behind after flag to talk with Coran, meant he got back to their room later than Keith. Today he instantly grinned as he opened the door. Keith was lounged out on his bed, spider man pyjamas on (which Lance found adorable but still teased him about). He had his record player open on the desk, a song Lance instantly recognised as Love Me Do by The Beatles playing.

Lance was usually greeted by Keith doing his homework or passed out on the bed. Lance was getting to know that Keith slept. Like a lot. And he curled up, very cutely to Lance's dismay, into a ball when he did. Lance was sure he was part cat. But he smiled as he put down his bag at the door, kicking it shut behind him. Keith opened one eye at the noise of the door shutting.

"Good choice." Lance commented, moving to collapse on to his bed, it had been a long day.

"You like The Beatles?" Keith cocked an eyebrow, sitting up on his elbows. Lance looked over at him and found a little bit of colour rushing to his cheeks. Keith's hair had been pulled into a small pony tail at the nape of his neck, the dragon fly slide holding most of his bangs out eyes.

"Yeah." Lance said quickly, suddenly realising he hadn't replied yet "my older brother is much like you with the whole record player thing, I really looked up to him as a kid."

"I don't know if that's an insult or not." Keith raised an eyebrow.

"Take it how you will." Lance smirked

"You know you're kinda an asshole, right?" Keith rolled his eyes "like someone as douchey as you has to be aware of it."

"Pot kettle black, hot shot." Lance grinned as he flopped back on his bed, cradling the back of his hands in his hands. Keith just gave him a look from across the room "but important question, their older stuff or their newer stuff, which do you prefer?"

"Newer." Keith was quick to answer and his eyebrow twitched in irritation when Lance groaned, as if it was the wrong answer "alright, what do you like better?"

"Older, obviously - it's the better stuff."

"You're wrong." Keith stated, sitting up to match Lance with a hard stare.

The boy just chuckled "plucked a nerve there, did I? I knew you'd like the new stuff better, gotta have a deep meaning or it's not music right?"

Keith cocked an eyebrow "that's not it, there later music had a PURPOSE, songs had more meaning."

"They got too political." Lance shrugged "there's nothing wrong with music for music's sake, something that sounds good but doesn't need some philosophical meaning." as he was talking the music changed to the beginning of Twist and Shout "like this beauty for example."

"This wasn't even written for them." Keith shot quickly

"I know." Lance chuckled at how defensive he was being as he sat up "but listen to it; don't you just wanna dance?"

"Not particularly."

"That's cause you have a 12 foot stick up your ass." Lance laughed, jumping up on to his bed. Keith's eyes widened as he started to sing (scream) the lyrics "well, shake it baby! Twist and shout!"

"You look like an idiot." Keith said flatly, even if lips were twitching into an amused smile.

"A hot idiot." Lance laughed, wiggling his eyebrows at his room mate.

"Debatable." Keith smiled now as Lance laughed and flopped down on to his bed, now slightly out of breath.

"I think we should agree to disagree on this subject," he sighed "like many other things."

"Okay." Keith sighed, brushing strands of inky black hair that had fallen out of his pony tail behind his ear. He stood up, grabbing his book off the desk, knocking his picture frame off as he did so. Lance instantly heard the shattering of the glass and looked over.

"Shit!" Keith hissed angrily, dropping to his knees and picking up the frame. Lance almost felt his chest hurt as Keith's face fell, glass falling out the frame and on to the floor.

"Be careful, don't cut yourself." Lance said in an innate brotherly tone, getting up and dropping to his knees to pick up the bits of glass. Keith sighed as he looked at the frame in his hands before swearing so loud it made Lance jump. Keith threw the frame angrily into the corner of the room and there was a loud noise of wood splintering.

"K-Keith?" Lance said, eyes blown wide as Keith sniffed from where he was sitting opposite Lance. Was he _crying_? 

SHIT. He _was_ crying.

"God, I'm such a screw up." Keith ran his hands into his hair, making chunks fall from his ponytail.

"Hey, you just knocked over a picture frame - we can get you a new one from the village this weekend." Lance managed to say. Totally confused and a little concerned about his room mates current deteriorating state.

"I just..." Keith whispered "fuck!"

Lance sighed and got to his feet, throwing the glass into the trash can before picking up the now totally broken frame from the floor. The boy grinning at the camera looked nothing like the boy sitting on the floor right now. Reluctantly he looked to the frame he had on his desk, in which held a photo of him with his little cousins, shaking his head he slid Keith's picture from the frame - tossing what was left in the trash before popping out the photo from his own frame. Keith only looked up from where he was sniffling into his hands when Lance crouched down and held the frame to him.

"I... why would you?" Keith mumbled, taking it from him and looking at the photo, his fingers tightening around the frame.

"You need it more than I do." Lance said gently, Keith's eyes looking up meet him and his lips twitched into a smile.

"Thanks, Lance." he whispered

"What was that?" Lance grinned "can you say that again?"

"Oh, fuck off, McClain." Keith laughed, sniffling and rubbing his dripping nose on to the back of his hand, rather unattractively, as he stood up. Lance smiled slightly as Keith placed the photo down on to his desk again.

"Is that your brother?" Lance could ask before he could stop himself "in the photo..."

"Yeah." Keith said, his tone unreadable "Takashi."

"Were you guys close?"

"Yeah, when I was a kid anyway." Keith turned and looked at Lance "he, he apparently went o this school but I was only like 14 when he did.. I've only seen him a couple times since then."

"So he _is_ Shiro?" Lance asked "I guess the talent in Flag runs in your family."

"You knew him?"

"Not really, he was Flag captain when I joined 1st year, really cool guy - pretty much everyone loved him but I was just a bench warmer at the time."

Keith sighed and looked at the photo "sounds like him, he's... he's a really good guy."

"You... you don't sound so sure..." Lance pressed gently

"He hasn't talked to me in a while..." Keith said "my mum lied about this place... said he'd gone to some grammar school. He still called all the time but... ever since I came here. Dead silence."

Lance didn't really know how to respond, Keith's eyes were big and sad and he had the biggest urge to pull him into his chest and hug him until he felt better. Instead he opted for standing up and putting a hand on Keith's shoulder, he jumped slightly at the sudden contact but did nothing to pull his shoulder away.

"I heard he joined the national Flag team... he's probably just not found the time to call. He will soon, I know it."

The smallest of smiled pulled on Keith's lips and he turned to look at his room mate "thanks, Lance."

The boy had some difficulty finding words. Any words. "a-any time." he spluttered after a moment.


End file.
